View From Afar S2, E12: IPW 2026 | Doug Bourgeois on Louisiana Joy, From the French Quarter to Cajun Country

Welcome to a special IPW 2026 series of View From Afar. In this episode, recorded live from the conference floor, Louisiana Office of Tourism Assistant Secretary Doug Bourgeois sits down with Afar editorial director Billie Cohen to talk about a state whose pitch to travelers is built on joie de vivre—and what that actually looks like on the ground.

Doug has led tourism for the state since 2018, but his roots go deeper: he grew up in Thibodaux, an authentically Cajun city an hour from New Orleans, and started his career as a riverboat shore-excursion guide giving a Cajun heritage tour.

In 2025, Louisiana welcomed 45 million visitors and generated 19 billion dollars in spending, finally returning to pre-pandemic levels. New Orleans alone hosted 19 million visitors, the second-highest figure in the city’s history. But the state is also navigating real headwinds, including a steep drop in Canadian visitation, and Doug is thinking carefully about how to keep momentum going.

Transcript

Billie Cohen: I’m Billie Cohen, an Afar editorial director. Welcome to View From Afar, a podcast that spotlights the people and ideas shaping the future of travel. And in this special series, I’m coming to you live from the floor of IPW the annual travel conference organized by the U.S. Travel Association, to share the best of America with the rest of the world. It’s a big moment in U.S. travel. Our country is preparing to cohost the FIFA World Cup and celebrate its 250th anniversary. All this is happening even as international arrivals are down and global events are affecting travel across the world. But the reasons we all travel haven’t changed. In fact, they’ve become more important. Joy and connection. So we’re talking to industry leaders about how their destinations are adapting in a tough world, and how they’re finding ways to give visitors experiences that make them smile and make them feel welcome.

My guest today is Doug Bourgeois, assistant secretary of tourism for the Louisiana Office of Tourism. Doug is originally from Thibodaux, and he spent most of his career in travel and tourism here, holding various positions across the state. Doug has been in this role since 2018, and under his leadership, Louisiana finally started to see pre-pandemic levels of travel in 2025. Last year, the state welcomed 45 million visitors, generating about $19 billion in spending. New Orleans alone welcomed 19 million visitors, the second highest figure in the city’s history. But there’s also real pressure. Canada is Louisiana’s number one international source market, and Canadian travel to the U.S. is down sharply. So we’ll talk to Doug about how he juggles upswings and challenges, how Louisiana is leaning into joy as a strategy, what rural tourism looks like beyond New Orleans, and the case for Cajun country as a destination on the world stage.

Doug, thank you so much for being here. Welcome to the podcast.

Doug Bourgeois: Thank you. It’s wonderful being here, especially at IPW in Fort Lauderdale.

Billie: I know it’s been nice weather.

Doug: It’s been incredible.

Billie: Speaking of heat, so Tabasco sauce was invented in Louisiana. So I feel like I have to ask on a scale of one to ten, how hot can you take your food?

Doug: Oh, you know, I am not a spicy guy. But, you know, that’s, I think one of the myths about, uh, really Cajun cooking, Louisiana cooking, everyone thinks it’s very, very spicy. It’s flavorful, but we don’t really add a lot of like heat to it. But when people try to copy it, they think, hey, home of hot sauce, we gotta pour some in here. But really, when you come to Louisiana, you’ll find flavor more than you’ll find really heat and spice.

Billie: Do you have a favorite food that everybody should try when they when they come?

Doug: Well, I’m a Louisiana boy, so gumbo is my favorite. I mean, it’s our state dish. And you know, there are many different versions of gumbo, but no one makes gumbo better than your mama.

Speaker 3 Of course, of course.

Billie: So you are from. From Louisiana. From Thibodaux? Yes. So for for listeners who may not be familiar, can you say where, where in the state is that and what’s it like? What was it like to grow up there?

Doug: So Thibodaux is down in the south along Bayou Lafourche. We have a little university there. We call it Harvard on the Bayou. Nicholls State and Thibodaux is a kind of a truly an authentic Cajun town. I mean, my parents were French speakers. Um, my grandparents. And so it, you know, it was a slow kind of Cajun more than a village. We were, we were a city. We thought, you know, we time was told by the church bells and, you know, the seasons, crawfish season or time to cut the sugar cane. So it’s very rural, but it was a very simple, authentic kind of little city.

Billie: Sounds like a great place to grow up.

Doug: It it is. And it’s got great food and great people. And we’re an hour from New Orleans, so everything was truly accessible.

Billie: Yeah. It sounds like very early on you, you were learning what was special about Louisiana, right?

Doug: Well, I, I did my, um, my brothers and sisters, uh, studied away. And so when they came back, they came back with stories and they would tell stories about their home. And so I really kind of learned from them. And then becoming director of rural tourism for the state of Louisiana, I really had the opportunity to see every part of the state and learn all the stories.

Billie: But before that, you were a tour guide in college right?

Doug: I was. I worked for the riverboats, so on shore excursions, and I did the Cajun Heritage Tour.

Billie: Oh my gosh.

Doug: So, um, taught me a lot.

Billie: Is that that was your first tourism job and that was it. You’re like, I love this. I gotta keep doing it?

Doug: That was my first. No, actually, I went into human resources.

Billie: So a natural progression.

Doug: Yes. After college, I went into human resources. Believe it or not, and then somehow transitioned back to the university where I was working my master’s degree, then got a job there as director of conference services, where I actually kind of planned events and conferences. And of course, you know, tours that go along with them. And did the travel learn programs and ended up with the State of Louisiana Office of Tourism 26 years ago.

Billie: Wow. So you’ve seen the whole state by now, right? So what’s a part of Louisiana that you love that you think most visitors don’t see?

Doug: Well, I have to say I love every part of Louisiana.

Billie: Of course.

Doug: Every part is really special. So again, every part of Louisiana has sort of a different vibe, a different culture. You know, when you get up north and in the Shreveport to Monroe, it’s again, more of a Mississippi Delta kind of experience where the, the food kind of tells the story of the city. You know, it’s going to be greens and barbecue and all the fun stuff there. And then you get to central Louisiana, and that’s where kind of where Cajun and, and the Delta meet. And so it’s sort of a fusion there. And then of course, South Louisiana, what, you know, Cajun Creole, it’s, it’s just this melting pot of everything.

Billie: And I see you’ve got a theme with food running through the experience of Louisiana. Do you think of it as a culinary destination? More than I think. Most people think New Orleans when they think of Louisiana, but it sounds like the culinary draw.

Doug: Oh, absolutely.

Billie: People should be paying attention.

Doug: To in every part of the state. You know, we have a program that really some of the best food you get are these local little gas stations. So we have a trail called Gas Station Eats that goes through kind of the central part of the state. And these people will come out, give you the recipe, tell you how they cooked it. I mean, these gas stations are like the hub of the city. It’s the grocery store, the gas station, and the place to go and eat. And of course, down in South Louisiana, I mean, Cajun Creole, we love our food. We talk about it constantly. And this year we actually joined with the Michelin program, uh, with the American South. And we were lucky enough to get, uh, two stars in New Orleans and, uh, two other restaurants with one stars and just a list of restaurants that were designated places to go by Michelin.

Billie: That’s great. Has it started to change the demographic of visitors that are being drawn to the state, or have you not seen that happen yet?

Doug: It hasn’t changed. It’s enhanced it. You know, there are, and many people kind of thrive on going to Michelin restaurants. Anytime they’re in a destination, they look for, you know, what’s what’s Michelin recommended, right. Well, now we have just that added bonus of having those stars. I think all our restaurants had stars. But, you know.

Billie: And some of them have stars, but you can’t get to like your mom’s gumbo, you know. That would have so many stars.

Doug: But, you know, if you go to South Louisiana, you’ll be invited to somebody’s kitchen. You really will.

Billie: I’m gonna hold you to that. That would be awesome. So, okay, so we talked about inside restaurants, but also you have a campaign now for 2026 where it’s the Year of Outdoors for Louisiana. Can you tell us about that?

Doug: Sure. So the last three years we’ve tried to do the kind of the year of. So after Covid, we wanted to realign ourselves and make sure people understood who we are again, and also sort of bring our tourist partners together. So first we did, of course, Year of Music because Louisiana is music. You know, we were birthplace of jazz, zydeco, Cajun blues, and so much more. And the next year was, of course, Year of Food. And so this year is Year of Outdoors. And when we say year of outdoors, it’s a swamp tour, but it’s also eating in an outside in a New Orleans courtyard. We love the outdoors. There’s so many outdoor kitchens in Louisiana. I mean, when people build a house, they put in an outdoor kitchen. So we cook outdoors. We also, you know, we’re in the the Mississippi River migration route, so during the two migration times for birds, it’s just incredible to see the wildlife there.

Billie: And two national parks, right?

Doug: Two national parks. Yes. The one in central Louisiana, the Cane River Creole National Park is really a gem when it comes to seeing the outside of Louisiana and seeing what life was like living in rural Louisiana, as well as colonial Louisiana. And then Jean Lafitte down in the South, kind of gives you a taste of everything and the swamps and being a part of that.

Billie: It sounds great. You mentioned, um, this campaign as part of an effort to work on post-pandemic travel, but you’re starting to get close to pre-pandemic visitor levels. So from your perspective, what’s been driving that growth? Is it events like America 250? Is it the culinary?

Doug: I think it’s a little bit of everything. Um, you know, making sure we invest in things that people want, like, um, showcasing our food, which, you know, it’s amazing. We will all travel for a good meal. Isn’t that true?

Billie: Absolutely.

Doug: And we have brought in a couple America 250 events. One of the Louisiana Purchase papers to Baton Rouge, and it’s in the old state Capitol. Because when it comes to the growth of America, the Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of the continent and made the.

Billie: Way for a big deal.

Doug: Yeah. Westward expansion. So, I mean, we, we were a big part of that. We’ve done a couple of things like tall ships. We’ve got a great exhibit going on to Gálvez in Louisiana. I mean, when you think about it, he was the Spanish governor of Louisiana, helped with the revolution And his contribution, I think, goes unnoticed. So we’ve done some things like that to recognize Louisiana’s role.

Billie: Very interesting. With Canadian travel down sharply in the U.S., how is your office working to keep Louisiana on Canadians travel radar?

Doug: Well, we have a cultural connection. I mean, it’s family when it comes to Canada with the Acadians that, um, when they left Nova Scotia or what was called Nova Scotia, it was like Acadie back then. They came to Louisiana. And really they created not just a state. I mean, they’re responsible for the state of mind of everybody in Louisiana because we’re so close. We’ve been up to Canada a number of times, just meeting old friends and making sure the media remembers us and, and tour operators. And we did a real, I think a really cool thing, um, we sent to everyone that had asked for Louisiana tour guide over the past couple of years. We sent what we called a Louisiana olive branch. It was a roux spoon. You know, every, every dish in Louisiana starts with a roux, and you have to have a special spoon to make it. So he sent a spoon with a note saying, you know, when you’re ready to travel again, we’ve got the gumbo on waiting for you. And if you’re staying at home, here’s something to help you remember us and make a gumbo and and keep us in mind.

Billie: Wow, did it work? Is it working yet?

Doug: Oh, yeah. Great. Great response, great response. I mean, Canada is, um, close to us. We’re I’m not going to say that we’re getting the numbers we used to, but we still get we have a lot of cultural connections and a lot of cultural travel still going on.

Billie: Yeah. So, um, beyond Canada or, and to make up for that loss, where are you investing time or money or effort right now? And where are you seeing momentum?

Doug: Well, the UK is always a strong market for us. We have a direct flight from London into New Orleans with British Airways, and so that keeps that connection going. So we don’t want to lose that. We’re seeing Australia coming more and more. I think the Australians love the Louisiana life. Uh, they’re very much like us. They love to have a good time and enjoy great food. And we’re also investing in the Indian market quite a bit because again, that connection is strong because we’re both kind of culturally, um, very proud of who we are. And we love that exchange of cultures and we love the spice. Different spice.

Billie: Right? Right. All spice is good spice. In one of your many roles across your, your career, you served as chair of the Mississippi River Parkway Commission, which markets the 10 states along the Mississippi River internationally. So what’s the case for the river as a single destination, and how does Louisiana position itself within that?

Doug: The Mississippi River is one of the great rivers of the world, and people know that name. And so we partnered together to create this itinerary that sort of takes you along, you know, just as explorers explore, the Mississippi kind of takes you from either the top of the river down to Louisiana or from Louisiana on up. And if you think about how music progressed up the river and how food changed as you go up the river, Architecture. And truly, if you want the Americana experience, those river towns offer that so much. And then the big cities. Of course, Mississippi River country isn’t just about places along the river. It’s about the whole state. So it’s about every part of the state and everything you can do there. That’s again held together by that river.

Billie: And so that brings up the idea of rural tourism. So I think Louisiana’s tourism story and what people think of first is New Orleans, New Orleans, New Orleans, right. But you’ve worked with a lot of rural tourism. What does dispersal look like for Louisiana? Where would you like to see people go?

Doug: Well, we’ve set up a couple of programs to move people around the state. New Orleans is by far the gem. I mean, it’s a bucket list destination. You can’t be a traveler without going to New Orleans and spending some time there. But we’ve also done trails like we’ve done a hot sauce trail to get you out to the many hot sauce vendors throughout the state and places that have their specialty sauces. Uh, we have a scenic byways.

Billie: Did I read about a hot sauce ice cream?

Doug: Yes.

Billie: I have a thing with ice cream. I will travel for ice cream. So this definitely caught my attention.

Doug: Well, you know, Tabasco again, made in Louisiana. And there’s the Tabasco factory has a little general store, and they would serve this, um, Tabasco ice cream was made with raspberry chipotle hot sauce and it’s awesome. So we’ve taken that globally. We’ve done activations just this year alone in Canada and the UK. And we bring hot sauce ice cream and people love it.

Billie: That’s great. Okay, so in addition to ice cream and hot sauce trails and some other food trails, how are you working to get visitors to see other parts of the state?

Doug: Well, we have a pretty strong Scenic Byways program that we’ve transitioned into, again, a road trip program. And so we’re all about road trips and the byways and road trips again. We have so many stories and small stories connected together create a bigger story and a great visitor experience. And so we’ve done that throughout. We have I’m going to lose track because they keep building, I want to say 12 or 16 byways throughout the state, and the communities along there work together to help tell their stories, discover their stories, and really help market them to visitors.

Billie: I think of New Orleans, and it’s such a place of joy, right? You can dance with people on the street. There are second lines, there’s music, there’s great food everywhere. So I feel like Louisiana’s pitch is essentially built on joy, right? Which is something we all need now. And I’m thinking like, in a time when a lot of the national conversation now is heavy and thoughtful, what are you in Louisiana doing, not just in New Orleans, but around to create experiences that feel genuinely joyful and welcoming? You know, what does that look like for a traveler on the ground, what can they step into to feel that joy and welcome?

Doug: Well, I think it starts with, uh, again, Louisiana and joy go hand in hand. I mean, that’s just who we are. I mean, that joie de vivre, that lust for life that we have. When you sit around a table and have a good meal, you can’t help but have a good time. And I think one of the legendary chefs, Leah Chase, talked about this. We have a civil rights trail, and Dooky Chase is one of the restaurants in New Orleans that’s on the trail. And she said during the civil rights movement, she would say, Look, everybody come upstairs. I’m going to cook you some good Louisiana food. We’re going to have a good time and we’re going to work out all these issues.

Billie: So people just go and sit down in restaurants. And is it an easy place to talk to people?

Doug: It’s an easy place. People talk to you. I love it when people tell me stories that they went into a little restaurant in Louisiana, and they weren’t sure what they wanted and the person at the table. So here, try this, this, I ordered this. See if you like it. So we’re very sharing. We love to bring people in, especially in, um, many of our restaurants always have music, so food and music go together in Louisiana. I think that’s a, that’s a good recipe for a good time.

Billie: Yeah. And it sounds like it’s very much about the human experience and being there. And AI is such a big part of the tourism conversation right now. How, how are you in your, in your role and your team working with AI or, or taking advantage of it? How is that, what’s that role look like for you?

Doug: So we’ve AI is very important. And, and when it started again, we were very hesitant. We weren’t sure where we would go with it. But we know it’s the way of the future. So we’ve built some components onto our website for AI search. But we’re again, we’re going to move slowly with this because I think we’re in the tourism space. We want to make sure everything’s represented and represented well. We’re going to take advantage of AI, but we’re going to make sure that we, uh, we’re still doing things that include everyone. And, and so I would say we’re taking baby steps.

Billie: Cool. What’s something that your office has tested in the past year, whether it was marketing or partnerships or a visitor experience that you think other destinations could learn from, whether it was successful or not?

Doug: Well, this past year and a couple of our markets, we did two things I think that made a difference. We went out, such as the UK. We took our own sort of media tour and we went to 5 different cities. I mean, it was kind of grueling. It was like, have a dinner, have an activation, get on a train, move to the next city, really to, to touch people in places that we haven’t touched them before. Again, that’s a strong market for us. So we wanted to make sure that we had a number of touch points there.

And then in some other markets like India, we’ve done small roundtables with tour operators, with trade consumers as well as media to say, who do you think Louisiana is and what should we do to bring Louisiana further up? You know, in the places that people think of for travel. And those are things that made a difference. We’re doing food shows all over. We have one coming up in Sydney, Australia. We’re just going out there to the consumer and making them aware of Louisiana and then pushing it to the tour operator to make sure they sell it well.

Billie: Right, right. Let’s imagine this is going to be hard to imagine that you have a sophisticated, well-traveled friend who might be sitting next to you with a microphone. Um, what is an up and coming Louisiana destination that you would send them to for a weekend? You know, what is the next great Louisiana destination that someone should check out?

Doug: Well, there’s so many. I mean, again, New Orleans, you just can’t when you think of that city, the where the it’s the birthplace of jazz, the birthplace of the cocktail. I mean, you’ve got to really focus in on New Orleans and all it has to offer, its cultural life. But when you get outside, there are many other major cities, you know, not as big as New Orleans, but Lafayette. That is the heart of Cajun country. Lake Charles that offers a wonderful, the Creole Nature Trail, really takes you out into the marsh and experience something different. Every city has something special, so it’s hard to pick just one. And I think even the sophisticated traveler wants to wants that authenticity. They want to feel like they’re someplace different.

Billie: They want to make a connection. Right? That’s what travel is about. You want to feel like you’re getting to know a place.

Doug: And you can become part of the story in Louisiana.

Billie: So to help me become part of the story in Louisiana, is there like a Cajun slang or Louisiana-ism that I should learn?

Doug: Um, oh, there are so many. Uh, but, you know, everywhere you go, you’ll see laissez les bons temps rouler, which means, you know, have a good time. Uh, or in Cajun, they’d say pass a good time, you know?

Billie: Thank you so much, Doug, for coming. This was great to have you. Laissez les bons temps rouler.

Doug: Roulette. Thank you.

Billie: Thanks for joining us for this episode of View from Afar. In the show notes, you’ll find links to everything we discussed today, as well as the Louisiana Office of Tourism website and social media handles and our coverage of Louisiana on Afar. And be sure to follow along this week to hear more interviews with industry experts. You can find more Views from Afar on Afar.com, and be sure to follow us on Instagram and TikTok. We’re @AfarMedia. If you enjoyed today’s exploration, I hope you’ll come back for more great interviews. Subscribing always makes that easy, and be sure to rate and review the show on your favorite podcast platform. It helps other travelers find it.

This has been View From Afar, a production of Afar Media. The podcast is produced by Aislyn Greene and Nikki Galteland, with assistance from Michelle Baran and me, Billie Cohen. Music composition from Epidemic Sound. This podcast is part of the Airwave Media Podcast Network. Visit AirwaveMedia.com to listen and subscribe to its other fine shows like Culture Kids and The Explorers podcast.